Tim Thomas' facebook update

This update was on the Boston Bruins star goalie Tim Thomas' Facebook page today. It has been confirmed that the Bruins goalie will be taking next year off  - you have to wonder if retirement on the horizon for Thomas as well?  Why not? Thomas has accomplished a lot during his hockey career and there isn't much left that he hasn't won. Last season  Thomas won a Stanley Cup and a Vezina Trophy and was the Stanley Cup playoffs and was also the MVP during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Sifting through the debris one day after the loss

Goalie Tim Thomas, NHL Hockey player for the Boston Bruins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Boston Bruins roller coaster season has come to an uneventful and disappointing end.

Last night the Bruins were eliminated by the Washington Capitals in game seven in overtime by a score of 2-1. Before the T.D. North Bank Arena was empty, the hockey pundits were also discussing Tim Thomas’ future/fate.

With the Bruins loss, the NHL has only one high seed left in the East in the New York Rangers, whose season could come to an end at the hands of that Ottawa Senators.

I wonder if NBC execs love the prospects of a possible match-up between the Florida Panthers and the L.A. Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals as  all of their pretty match-ups have gone by the wayside. None the less, I will still be watching no matter who is playing.

Who would have thought that Detroit, Vancouver, Boston, Chicago Pittsburgh would all be out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Most of those teams were built to go deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs and are now golfing. 

So after one round the in the Stanley Cup playoffs we have lost Gary Bettman’s team the Penguins, who bowed out gracefully in game six against the Philadelphia Flyers – the defending Stanley Cup Champions the Boston Bruins, who went down with a thud to the Washington Capitals. Finally the Presidents’ Trophy winner the top seeded Vancouver Canucks fell on their nose quicker than Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler in full dive mode, as they were eliminated last week by the eight seed the L.A. Kings in six games.

I can only imagine that the NHL front office is probably pulling For New Jersey and or the New York to win their game sevens tonight so the NHL doesn’t have to face the possibility of having the Panthers and the Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Elephant in the room

So the re-emerging theme that didn’t want to go away during the second half of the station was the Tim Thomas snub and him failing to go to the White House to see the President with the rest of the game back in January. One of the questions to immediately emerge in the locker room after the game was whether the Boston Bruins are behind their former Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas.

“I think he’s a great goalie,’’ Johnny Boychuk said. “He’s saved our butts a lot throughout the year. Throughout the series, he made plenty of saves and you know he’s going to be battling for you every night. And when you have a guy like that behind you, you don’t have any worries.’’

The issue now, though, is the long summer ahead. [Boston.com]

Some of the reports don’t sound so good coming out of the Boston Bruins Locker-room. There seems to be a bit of a of a disconnect between Thomas and his fellow teammates; or this story is being manufacturing in the media? It's hard to tell because a few of the Boston media guys have failed to let Thomas live down the "famous" White House snub last January.


While I admire Tim Thomas for making a stand personally and holding true to his core beliefs, I sometimes wonder if Thomas would have been better off just going to the White House with the rest of his teammates.

"Our best players, we probably needed more out of their game," said Boston coach Claude Julien, referring to a number of Bruins. "I didn't think our team was in tune as much as it was this time last year."

And with that, a year in which Boston's season was at least partly defined by Thomas' refusal to visit the President in the White House with his teammates in January ended with some degree of irony. Some Boston reporters said Thomas walked on the sacred Bruins logo after the game; there is speculation that the divisive former Vezina winner will be on the market this summer. And it was Ward and the Capitals who sent him there. [Montreal Gazette]

This little tidbit from the Obnoxious Boston Sports fan, apparently Tim Thomas referred to his fellow teammates as they. Boy what a difference a year makes and how soon they all forget, last year the fans and media in Boston were singing Tim Thomas’ praise as he was leading the Boston Bruins through the Stanley Cup playoffs. What have you done for me lately?

With the Bruins' exit, Thomas will be freed up to focus on Mitt Romney's choice of a running mate. Thomas, who played good but not great, will draw the ire of plenty of fans and others, who will continually make the mistake of linking his Facebook posts and political edicts to the fact that his GAA ballooned to 2.14 in the playoffs this season and his save percentage tumbled to .923. Tuukka time was likely going to arrive whether or not Thomas went to the White House and appears even more likely with Thomas' use of the dreaded "they" word while discussing his teammates last night. [Boston.com]

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Can you imagine if the Bruins had traded Tim Thomas?

Imagine if the Boston Bruins had traded Tim Thomas to the Philadelphia Flyers or the Washington Capitals? I don't think they would have made it out of the first series against the Montreal Canadians. Going back to last season I can remember a lot of fans wanting to get rid of Tim Thomas who ended up getting hip surgery in the off-season and returned to his Vezina Trophy winning form of 2008-2009.

Tim Thomas of old 

Tim Thomas came back like gang busters during the 2010-2011 regular season posting a record breaking 2.00 GAA and .938 Save percentage and a 35-11-9 record. Tim Thomas was even more impressive in the post season racking up an impressive 1.98 GAA  and a .940 save percentage with a 16-9 record in 25 playoff games. Thomas retook the starting job away from the younger Tuukka Rask 2.67 GAA and .918 save percentage and a regular season record 11-14-2. I think Thomas proved the Nay Sayers wrong by proving that he could still play at a high level. I can't even phantom what would have happened to the Boston Bruins had Thomas been traded.

Joe Haggerty; CSNNE.COM ---- The B’s goalie was great from his first appearance of the regular season, and broke through with an epic postseason performance after never finding the secret sauce during his previous Game 7 experiences.

A .940 save percentage, a 1.98 goals against average, four shutouts, and a 16-9 overall record following a Vezina Trophy-winning season mean that years from now people will refer to 2010-11 as “The Year of Tim Thomas.”

But it almost didn’t happen that way for Boston, or for the goalie that went into training camp with a snow white set of goalie pads and a white mask free of all Bruins logos that revealed a few hard feelings headed into the season.

That can happen when a player is dangled on the trade market as a necessary evil due to salary cap issues, and it pushed Thomas into “prove people wrong” mode headed into this year. That’s always a good place for Thomas to be once he’d gotten over the initial vexation at being involved in trade whispers.

Chiarelli admitted on Friday morning he’d taken phone calls about Tim Thomas, and sources indicated then to CSNNE.com that the most seriously interested parties were Washington and Philadelphia. The Bruins and Flyers had casually discussed a deal involving Thomas to the Flyers while the goalie was recovering from hip surgery after losing his playoff starting role to a younger goaltending model in Tuukka Rask.

Related articles

• Chiarelli talked to Flyers and Capitals about moving Tim Thomas (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Bruins G Tim Thomas named playoff MVP (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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• Bruins G Tim Thomas Named Playoff MVP (abcnews.go.com)

Breaking down the stats from the Bruins magical season.

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Boston Bruins made NHL history last night with their first Stanley Cup Championship in 39 years. The Boston Bruins needed three (3X) game sevens to win the 2011 Stanley Cup, with that accomplishment the Bruins were the first team in history to do this.

The Boston Bruins' All World goalie and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Tim Thomas had shutouts in those two of three game sevens (Eastern Conference and the Stanley Cup Finals).

Boston Bruins faced adversity in the Stanley Cup Playoffs

It would not be an understatement to say that the Boston Bruins faced a bit of adversity during the Stanley Cup Playoffs; first Patrice Bergeron missed two games with a concussion after he was knocked out by a hit from Flyers forward Claude Giroux in game four of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers and missed the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Boston Bruins also suffered a major blow when they lost one of their top six forward after Vancouver Defenseman Aaron Rome knocked out Nathan Horton at the blue line in the first period of game 3 with a questionable and unneeded hit. That bush league hit seemed to wake the Slumbering Bear as the Boston Bruins won 4 out of 5 games from that moment on.

Cutting it close with no margin for error

How close did the Bruins make it; breaking it down further, the Boston Bruins went down two games to none (2-0) in two for their four series they played during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Before you dismiss that fact, that is no small feat, the Boston Bruins had to win two games on the road in a hostile building in Montreal just to get back into the Eastern conference quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But it didn't stop there; the Boston Bruins also went 3-0 in overtime in their series with the Montreal Canadians, winning one of the games in overtime in Montreal. Overall, the Boston Bruins were 4-1 in overtime during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they lone loss came in game two of the Stanley Cup Finals. I think one could say that the Boston Bruins were battle tested and faced many tests along the way.

In Tim Thomas we trust

[1], [2]While the Bruins sprinted across the ice to mob him at the buzzer, Tim Thomas tapped both goalposts, sank to his knees and rubbed the ice in front of his empty goal.

I think it’s safe to say that if it wasn’t for Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas the Bruins could have been eliminated a long time ago. Thomas became the 15th goaltender to win the Conn Smythe, Tim Thomas posted an impressive 1.98 GAA and .940 save percentage and 16-9-0 record during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Tim Thomas’ final crescendo was even more impressive as he stopped 37 of 37 shots securing his place in history as being one of the best goalies in NHL history.

Michigan a factory for All Star goalies

It would appear that Michigan is home to some of the better American goalies in the NHL. The last three goalies to win the Vezina Trophy (I don’t think that I am going out on a limb and assuming Thomas is a lock to win his second Vezina Trophy in three seasons) are both goalies are from the State of Michigan, Tim Thomas hales from Flint Michigan and fellow Olympic team mate Ryan Miller is from East Lansing, Michigan. Both All Star goalies played their college hockey at American universities; Ryan Miller was an All American at Michigan State University and Tim Thomas was an All American at the University of Vermont.

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Bruins stand behind Tim Thomas...

Hockey is a team game and there is a lot of blame to go around for the game two loss, so for the Boston Bruins fans that are blaming the goalie Tim Thomas for the loss, seriously, you can't blame just one person for the game two debacle. Back to the first point; hockey is  a team game and when the systems break down the "team" loses, I think that its short sighted to put the blame solely on the shoulders of Vezina Trophy candidate Tim Thomas.  Go back and watch the video of the goal and you will see what I mean. [Click to view video]

There are a few good points in this ESPN video post above, that are worth looking at, it was a comedy of errors that led to the game winning goal by the Vancouver Canucks, it was a horrible defensive effort all of the way around. (1) The ill advised turn over at the blue line by Andrew Ference, that was brutal, Ference violated a cardinal sin by not getting puck deep, and the Vancouver Canucks who were pressuring hard blew by the Bruins defenders like they were pylons... (2) the bad effort behind the net by Zedano Chara, you have a guy that is 6'9" pull him down if you have to, there is a good chance that the Bruins penalty kill would have killed the penalty. (3) Tim Thomas over played the puck and lost, stay in the net and give your self a chance to make the save.

Roberto Luongo loses his mask...

h/t to the Program... On this shot it doesn't look like Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo had his goalie mask that tight when the puck hit him in the head. The shot didn't seem to rattle Roberto Luongo who has played well during the Stanley Cup Finals so far.

Call the Canucks a Whambulance

We are going to have to call the Vancouver Canucks a whambulance. I mean seriously, the call against Alex Burrows for knocking over Tim Thomas was the correct call, you can't do that in any league. Also, I have never seen so much whining about the officials, every time there is a call against the Canucks the CBC cameras pan to the Vancouver Canucks GM in sky box for his reaction to the call on the ice. I was also wondering why CBC doesn’t pan the camera to the Boston Bruins GM’s box to see his reaction as well.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Vancouver Canucks were not surprised by Boston goalie Tim Thomas' outstanding play Wednesday night in the opener of the Stanley Cup final.

They simply took issue with where Thomas played.

Coach Alain Vigneault joined several Canucks in questioning Thomas' aggressive positioning well outside his crease, complaining specifically about a tripping penalty to Alex Burrows for bumping Thomas outside the blue paint.

But, as Thomas and Bruins coach Claude Julien pointed out ahead of Game 2 tonight, the goalie's right to stop the puck unimpeded is not limited to the crease.


"I have the right to go anywhere there's open ice," said Thomas, who made 33 saves -- many spectacular -- before Raffi Torres scored Game 1's only goal with 18.5 seconds to play.

"If I'm set, I have a right to that ice. If I'm out of the paint and I'm set, I also have the right of way to get back to the crease. That's the way I understand it."

There's no doubting Thomas, who joined Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goalie, is more aggressive than most. He relies on his ability to read and react to plays from his skates, rather than playing the more passive, on-the-knees butterfly style common today.

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• Thomas' Roaming Goaltending Perplexes Canucks (nytimes.com)
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Horton and Thomas lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals...

The Boston Bruins are off to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1990. I think one could say that game seven between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning will go down as an instant classic, tonight's game was also not for the faint of heart as both teams skated up and down the ice exchanging chances on the opposition's net.

Both goalies Dwayne Roloson and Tim Thomas were stellar and Nathan Horton scored the only goal (8th of the Stanley Cup Playoffs) at the 12:27 mark of the third period and then Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins defense held on for the win as Tampa Bay had a few good chances to even the score.

* The Bruins outshot the Lightning 38-24...
*  The Boston Bruins are 11-10 all-times in Game 7s
*  Tim Thomas had two shutouts during the ECF Finals.  
*  There were two players in their 40's playing in this series Recchi 43 Roloson 41.
* Two of the three Vezina finalist are in the Stanley Cup Finals.

This is what Tim Thomas had to say after the game... 

"I think a lot of people thought I was over the hill,"' said the 37-year-old Thomas, a Vezina Trophy finalist who was sidelined throughout last year's playoffs. "I knew it wasn't true. I put in a lot of work over the summer and I've had an unbelievable year. I've been blessed."

Bruins defense coughs up a fur ball…

Well that was nice! The Boston Bruins blew an opportunity to send the Tampa Bay Lightning to the golf course for the summer and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals to take on the unlikeable Vancouver Canucks. I have have two word for the Bruins defense tonight "absolutely atrocious" add to that,  their penalty killers were equally "absolutely atrocious," these were the same penalty killers who had killed 16/18 Tampa Bay Lightning power plays in the first five games of the series. Tonight the penalty killers was way more generous giving up three power play goals on four power play opportunities.

Bruins second year defenseman Johnny Boychuk was also brutal tonight and worthy of sitting in the press box for game seven as he was on the ice for all five of Tampa Bay’s goals. I am not sure why Claude Julie kept coming back with the young defenseman, an example of his work can be seen in the video above.

The usually  steady Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was horrible tonight barely stopping 80 percent of the shots he faced. Thomas finished the night giving up 5 goals on 26 shots (21/26), no very Vezina Trophy like tonight. Not to be out down the aging Dwayne Roloson was equally unimpressive giving up 4 goals on 20 shots (16/20).

Tim Thomas robs Steve Downie

Check out this unbelievable save by Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas as he robs Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steve Downie to keep the Boston Bruins lead at 2-1 midway through the 2nd period. The Bruins scored a an empty net goal to win the game 3-1. If it wasn't for Tim Thomas coming up big it could have been an ugly game for the Boston Bruins who were out shot 34-20 by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Many of the Lightnings shots on goal were of the grade "A" variety. Also, in the second period, Bruins all world goalie, Tim Thomas had another amazing save on  a Tampa Bay 3-on-2.

I think one could make the argument that this was the save by Tim Thomas was a game changer and probably the save of the year for the Boston Bruins. Saves like this, is the reason why Tim Thomas is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.